Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-02-18
FORTUNE MAKING.
How the Oil Product Of th8 Country is
Controlled and Made 10 Yield
YengIy Profit OF 81, 900, 900.
O.her Schemes to Coin Money Like DIrt-A
Literary Venture Which Lined the
Pockets of the Publisher
Gath IN Cincinnati Enquirer.

/ WASHINGTON, Feb Il.-Some time ago
the Enquirer desired me 10 probe what Is
called the Cotton Oh Trust" which has
its headquarters in New York City. l
made some inquiries, but found there was
disposition to make great secret of,
the matter, while probably its securities
or subscriptions were being disposed of
Within the past week or two some little
Information has been given which | will
put in the interview form:
"Why did anybody conceive of making
syndicate out of cotton-seed oil?"
"Because it is considered the cheapest
! fat product in the world; it is made out
of what was formerly regarded IS refuse
seed. The cotton seed is rich in am
mona, which is great ingredient of
manure and fertilizers. After it had been
demonstrated that this cotton seed was
good for almost anything which a whole
some Oil, such as olive oil, could make,
q good many of the farmers and planters
resolved to use theirs as manure, and not
| sell 1t. 1t is LOW used to make soap,
lard, burning oils, table oils, and many
other things. The planters considered
that they did not get enough money for
/ their seed but as time has advanced
/ they sell it as reliable article of their
crops, particularly since they cen get
cash for it."
FOUR MILLION \ YEAR.
GLOW much capital have they put i4tp
! this Cotton Trust?"
"Under then incorporation, or rsther
their truSt-fOr II Is not corporation a.
all, but rather an agency or instru-
mentality-they are privileged to issue
$40, 900, OO0 worth of certificates. They
PROBABLY have issued something like that
amount"
"Do you mean to tell me that new,
crude thing like this has been capitalized
at $40, 600, 0OO already %
ayes; they claim to have made So, 000,-
UG0 already out Of this cotton trust, aud
state that they VIII get nearly another
$1,000, 900 during the fiscal year. If they
can make $4,000 600 3 year cut of the
concern that represents at ) per cent.
$4,000, 900"
GLOW have they got up their organiza-
tom"
"WhY, they have initiated the opera
tons OF the Standard Oil Company, and
indeed a number of the same men are in
both concerns. The Standard Oil Com
pany found the oil of Pennsylvania, West
Virginia, etc, pumped and refined by q
great number of competitors, who were
at the mercy Of the railroads, and had no /
understanding with each other to keep
the production steady, large and yet in q
degree 10 get a good average price. The |
oil would break down at one time to few
cents per barrel, and thus the business |
had no conference nor Intelligence in |
1t. The Standard people got ali the big |
wells, and ultimately all the important |
wells, and they kept following the devel- |
opment ard cOrnering it. They made |
contracts with the railroads for periods of .
wears under highly advantageous con6i-
tions, and finally laid pipes from the great .
lakes to the seaboard. They introduced |
better machinery to refine the oil and keep
up Its grade, and they made shipping IA
cilities so that they could put 1t all over
the world. That success has led them to
look out for any other revolution in fats
and oils, since they now understand all
the fatty and oily questions OF commerce.
AMERICAN COTTON SEED
Constituted so much of the cotton crop
that the first great problem presented TO
Whitney was 10 get the seed out Of the
cotton; if this could not be done, the seed
having the cotton closely wrapped about
it would prevent the separation of the
staple. Cotton seeds, indeed, contain
the basis of the propagation of the plant,
and The lint of manufactures in commerce
was nothing but natures provision TO
keep those seed warm, lest the frost
might kill them. Nature fights for every ]
one of herspecies in that way. Msn merely
.akes the lint OF the cotton seeds and !
clothes himself with which the cotton I
ICED has thrown away. That was the il I
-ention of Whitney; he could not get
he seeds out of the lint, so he took the 6
int away from the seeds. The cotton t
in is set up everywhere, and the ginning =
f the cotton is as systematic as the i
hreshing Of wheat. Chemistry, about t
tteen or twenty years ago, called atten- 4